"You've heard the story of PIRAR, haven't you?" the woman asked.
I nodded, mostly because it felt like the right thing to do.
"Let me tell you from the beginning," she said.
Once, in a world divided into three realms, there were the Truth Seekers, the Light Seekers, and the Gunslingers.
The Gunslingers were the protectors, sworn to defend the innocent and maintain peace. The Truth Seekers ruled with wisdom, while the Light Seekers, devoted to purity, governed their own lands. For centuries, these three factions coexisted, each playing their part in maintaining order.
Then, as always, greed ruined everything.
The Gunslingers grew restless, they no longer wanted to serve, they wanted to rule. Meanwhile, the Truth Seekers grew ambitious, desiring to expand their dominion into the territory of the Light Seekers. A quarrel began over these aspirations, small at first, but quickly escalating into full-scale war. Hatred bloomed in their hearts, and soon, all three realms were consumed by lust.
In their fury, the Truth Seekers and Light Seekers, blinded by lust and rage, opened a portal to a dark, vast expanse of space. This rift unleashed a tale of an untold darkness upon their world, one that fed on their hatred, their greed, and their thirst for power. Chaos consumed the world, innocent lives were lost, and the land was stained with the blood of those who never asked for this fight.
And then there was Zahra.
Zahra was different, a hybrid, born of both Truth Seekers and Light Seekers, she was a living bridge between two warring worlds. She was a warrior, her name feared on the battlefield, her arrows never missing their mark but no warrior, no matter how strong, is immune to loss.
When Zahra lost the love of her life to the war, something inside her shattered. Grief nearly destroyed her, but in that moment of despair, something else took hold, a power unlike anything the world had ever seen. A divine force surged through her, her bow and arrow transforming into a weapon capable of destroying entire armies.
Unable to erase the darkness, she decided to trap it, to contain it forever. She constructed a tower, a mighty fortress capable of absorbing all the darkness that has been unleashed on her world.
She named it PIRAR, meaning "to go mad," for it was born of madness, a world driven to madness by its own greed and hatred.
The tower absorbed the darkness, and the war ceased but the damage was done. The people, now free from the grip of hatred, recognized the horror they had wrought but it was too late to undo what had been done.
In her grief, Zahra cursed the Light Seekers, transforming them into shadowy beings, creatures forever bound to the darkness in their hearts. She twisted their souls, tying them to the very tower that had contained the darkness. If the tower was ever to be destroyed, their souls would perish with it.
For the Truth Seekers, Zahra felt pity. They had only wanted to protect their lands, to defend what was theirs, she cursed them to live as ordinary humans, wiping away their memories of the past. She sent them to a new world, a place where they would never know the destruction they had caused. They were given a fresh start, free from the horrors they had once embraced.
The gunslingers were not so lucky, they were exiled into the mountains, a rugged, unforgiving place where beasts roam freely, the nightmare of every soul. They were tasked with protecting the weak but instead they did the exact opposite. The price they paid wasn't just their freedom but their humanity.
In the end, Zahra restored balance and disappeared mysteriously. With her sacrifice, the world found peace once again but the three elders appeared, and strange things began to happen. Whispers of a prophecy by the great priestess surfaced, foretelling that the balance Zahra had fought so hard to restore would soon be shattered once again.
The woman's expression darkened. "We ignored it, for years, we pretended it didn't matter, until strange things started happening. That's when we knew."
This is getting real too real
I shifted uncomfortably. "And what exactly does this have to do with me?"
She gestured around. "They are the Gunslingers." I think I figured out that already
I frowned "does that mean Liam is half shadow, half gunslinger" she smiled
"I am a witch" she said nonchalantly
I glanced at Liam. "So he's a wizard?"
Liam gave me a blank look. "Do I look like a wizard?"
"Honestly? Kind of."
The woman ignored us. "You are the prophecy."
I froze, that was like a bomb dropped on my head. "What?"
"The prophecy your mother fought to protect you from," she said, looking directly at me.
Something cold settled in my stomach.
"The one destined to awaken the darkness is a hybrid. No one knows his name or his face, but he knows you and he knows you're the only one standing between him and unleashing destruction."
Liam crossed his arms. "That's why he sent you the porcupine, It was a message, not just a warning."
Noah didn't say anything, he just stared at me, like he was waiting for me to scream, run, cry...
I took a deep breath, then clapped my hands together. "Alright, cool story, conversation over. Let's grab what we came for and leave."
Without waiting for an answer, I turned and walked straight out.
I wasn't anyone's prophecy.
And if they thought I was, they were making a huge mistake.